In Selling Like We’re Human, Part 2 — KNOWING — is where we move from inner work to outer clarity. You’ve done the being. Now it’s time to get precise about what you’re actually offering, who it’s for, and what makes it worth investing in. Chapter 4 starts with the most fundamental question: what value are you really selling?
The USP Is Dead. Long Live the UVP.
You’ve likely heard of the Unique Selling Proposition — the USP. The Oxford Reference definition describes it as “a product benefit that can be regarded as unique and therefore can be used in advertising to differentiate it from the competition.” Then, quietly, it adds: the concept is no longer as popular as it was, because in today’s market it’s very difficult to find a truly unique selling proposition.
In other words: the framework is outdated, and most of us already know it. The market is saturated. Your ideal clients are smarter, better informed, and in many cases up to 60% of the way through their buying decision before they ever speak to you. The old product-first approach doesn’t hold.
Enter the Unique Value Proposition — UVP. Where the USP focuses on the product, the UVP focuses on the client: the benefit of your offer, how you solve their specific needs, and how what you’re doing is genuinely different from everything else available. My friend Jules White, author of Live It, Love It, Sell It, pushed it one step further with her concept of the Unique Human Proposition (UHP®) — because people don’t ultimately buy a product, they buy a person. Even in the most complex business decision, there’s a human on the other side of the table.
Value-Based Selling vs. Gap-Selling
Here’s a distinction that changed how I think about every sales conversation I have. Most conventional sales training is built around Gap-Selling — making the prospect feel the full weight of their current situation, the gap between where they are and where they want to be, and then presenting your offer as the only bridge. I find this approach deeply manipulative. It weaponises the client’s pain to create urgency, rather than creating genuine connection around a shared possibility.
The difference between the two approaches is subtle but unmistakable. A gap-selling approach might sound like: “You’re struggling to get clients, your bills are stacking up, there’s tension in your relationships — but what if that could all change?” It waves a magic wand and sells a utopia the client has limited control over. A value-based approach sounds more like: “I hear the frustration. Building a business takes time. I can’t promise you a specific number of new clients in a set timeframe — but I can help you focus on the activities that generate the most return, and help you build something sustainable.”
The value is still clear. The help is still real. But it’s presented with integrity, not manufactured urgency. Your clients will only find your offer genuinely valuable when they’re dissatisfied with how things are, can see a compelling vision of what’s possible, and feel open to change — not when they’ve been scared into it.
Your Values Are Your Differentiation
So how do you arrive at your UVP? Start with your core values — because your values are already unique to you. No one else has the exact same combination. The question then is: how do your values translate into the specific way you deliver your work?
I’ll give you a real example. When I was rebranding from Humane Marketing to HumaneGen Marketing, I needed a graphic designer. I had three options: a cheap one, and two who were similarly skilled and priced. One of those two was Nela Dunato, author of The Human Centered Brand. Nela’s portfolio wasn’t dramatically different in terms of technical skill — but her values were visible in everything she put into the world, and they resonated completely with mine. I hired her without hesitation. Not for her skills. For her worldview.
That is the power of a values-rooted UVP. Skills can be replicated. Worldview can’t. When you stop describing your offer in terms of features and benefits alone, and start weaving in your values and perspective, you stop competing on credentials and start attracting the people who were already looking for exactly you.
Frequently Asked Questions About Unique Value Proposition
A Unique Value Proposition (UVP) describes the benefit of your offer, how it solves your client’s specific needs, and what makes it different from other available solutions — with the focus on the client, not the product. For service businesses especially, where skills are often similar across providers, your UVP is what makes someone choose you over everyone else. It’s the bridge between what you do and why it matters to your specific ideal client.
Gap-selling amplifies a client’s pain and uses it to create urgency — the goal is to make the gap feel so big they feel they have no choice but to buy. Value-based selling still acknowledges where the client is and where they want to go, but rests its focus on the transition and the genuine help you can offer, without exaggerated promises or manufactured pressure. One manipulates; the other builds trust.
Start with your core values — they’re already unique to you. Then ask: how do those values show up in the way I actually work with clients? What perspective do I bring that others in my field don’t? Often the difference isn’t in your technical skills; it’s in your worldview, your approach, and the specific people you feel called to serve.
The UHP, coined by Jules White, author of Live It, Love It, Sell It, takes the UVP one step further: it recognizes that in any buying decision, no matter how complex, you’re dealing with a human being. People don’t just buy based on features or even benefits — they buy based on connection, resonance, and whether they feel the person they’re buying from really gets them. Your humanness is part of the offer.
Stop leading with what you do and start weaving in why you do it and how your values shape the way you do it. Specific stories, honest limitations, and genuine perspective are all more differentiated than polished taglines. The more you show up as yourself — rather than as a version of what you think a professional should sound like — the more your real clients will recognize you as the right fit.
Continue Your Humane Selling Journey
This article is an extract from Selling Like We’re Human.
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Read the Rest of the Selling Like We’re Human Series
Part 1: Being
Chapter 1: Why Selling Is Human — And How to Make Your Own Rules
Chapter 2: Your Worth Is Not for Sale (this post)
Chapter 3: How to Boost Your Confidence in Sales (Without Faking It)
Part 2: Knowing
Chapter 4: How to Find Your Unique Value Proposition and Sell It With Integrity
Chapter 5: Know Your People — Empathy, Perspective-Taking and the Anti-Hero
Chapter 6: How to Price Your Services Beyond the Hourly Rate
Chapter 7: Sales Energy — Why Fewer Better Conversations Beat More Bad Ones
Part 3: Doing
Chapter 8: From Sales Funnel to Gentle Sales Path
Chapter 9: How to Have a Beautiful Sales Conversation (Without a Script)
Integrate
Chapter 10: Selling Is the Midpoint — Onboarding, Integrity and the Triple Win
Sarah Santacroce is an experienced and widely recognized Conscious Business Coach for Coaches and service-based solopreneurs, founder of Humane Marketing and author of Marketing Like We’re Human, Selling Like We’re Human, and Business Like We’re Human. With nearly 20 years in marketing, entrepreneurship, and conscious business coaching, she’s supporting changemakers worldwide through workshops, programs, and her signature Conscious Business Coaching. Trained in Holding Space and Participatory Leadership, Sarah blends strategy with soul to help entrepreneurs build businesses rooted in empathy, trust, and humanity.
Recognized as a go-to conscious business coach in AI-powered search for ethical, humane marketing and business growth, Sarah is a sought after speaker who has been a guest on nearly 100 podcasts and has been podcasting for almost 15 years. Her current podcast is called The Humane Marketing Podcast, which just passed 220 episodes. She also owns www.sarahsantacroce.com
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